Baucus tours Montana with ambassadors from five international trading partners

By Renae Counter, Explorebigsky.com Editorial Assistant

MONTANA – Sen. Max Baucus launched this year’s Ambassadors’ Tour on Tuesday, May 29th with a visit to Simms Fishing Products of Bozeman. There, he toured Simms, a local company that imports GORE-TEX and other neoprene materials from Japan and then handcrafts fishing waders and other fishing accessories, which are exported across the world.

On Wednesday, Baucus met up with diplomats from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, South Korea and Vietnam. Throughout the week, the group will tour parts of Montana to promote trade and job creation. They will stop at popular destinations like Yellowstone National Park and Livingston as well as Montana wheat farms and cattle ranches.

Baucus said that seeing is believing and “when the world sees what Montana has to offer, they're sold.”

The Senator’s 2010 Ambassadors’ Tour opened trade doors in Montana when Ireland donated $100,000 to an oral history project at the University of Montana and Chile began full trade with the American beef market. Baucus was also a key component in bringing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s Trade (APEC) and SME Ministerial meetings to Big Sky last May.